10 people and several others injured in Germany train crash

- Rescuers are still ongoing in Germany to save other injured passengers

- German Chancellor and transport Minister have described the situation as horrifying

Some passengers were trapped in the wreckage hours after the crash/Credit:BBC

Police say at least 10 people have been killed and scores more injured after two passenger trains collided in the German state of Bavaria.

The head on collision happened near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60km (37 miles) south-east of Munich.

According to the transport minister, the trains had crashed into each other while both travelling at around 100km/h (62mph). Emergency teams have been working for hours to free casualties from the wreckage. The accident occurred on a single-track route between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen at about 07:00 local time (06:00 GMT)

Officials say they assume both train drivers had no visual contact before the crash as the site is on a bend and therefore crashed into each other largely without braking. The stretch of line had an automatic braking system designed to halt any train that passed a stop signal. It is not yet known why this failed to stop the crash.

The collision occurred in a densely wooded region

Two of the three data recorders or "black boxes" on board the trains have been recovered. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel said she was "dismayed and saddened" by the crash. A doctor at one of four hospitals in the region said 54 people were being treated, eight of them with serious injuries.

Police say one person is still missing and the drivers of both trains and two train guards were among those killed.

German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who visited the scene, described it as "horrifying sight".

Rescue helicopters ferrying the injured to hospital

Germany has experienced other fatal German train crashes in Janurary 2011, February 2000 and June 1998 respectively. In 2011, about 10 people were killed in Saxony-Anhalt when a commuter train collided with goods train after driver runs through two signals. In 2000, about nine people dead when an overnight train from Amsterdam to Basel crashed near Cologne and in 1998, 101 people were killed when a high-speed train with a broken wheel derailed and smashed into a bridge at Eschede in Lower Saxony.

The scene of the crash is close to the Mangfall river in a hilly and densely wooded region. The Munich blood bank issued an appeal for blood donors on its Facebook page for donors to come support casualties.